


teenage fruit snack baby

by chesamu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying Mention, F/M, School Related Stress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-25 07:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12526484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chesamu/pseuds/chesamu
Summary: katie stays home because she's not feeling well and one of her classmates misses her so much he pays her a visit





	teenage fruit snack baby

**Author's Note:**

> still getting a feel for the pidge x lance dynamic ✶ i hope i did these characters justice !!

"Can't I just be home-schooled?"

Matt carefully set the R2-D2 mug of chamomile tea on his little sister's bedside table. Its warm, sugary scent traveled gently from the mug into the air surrounding her cozy attic room. Steam danced along the plastic glow-in-the-dark stars dappled across her wall.

Matt only smirked at her. "Home-schooled?" he asked.

"I'm serious," Katie replied. "Honestly, I study so much more efficiently when I'm independent anyway. I think it'd work great for me."

Matt let out a breath, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Well. To be home-schooled, you need a home-teacher. And we can't exactly afford that. Mom and Dad both have pretty demanding careers, and they're cutting corners to keep us in private schools as it is."

"You could teach me," Katie cut in immediately. She'd thought most of this through before falling asleep last night. So when Matt only gave her an amused quirk of his eyebrow, she pouted a bit.

The idea had made so much sense in her head. Saying it out loud though ... she realized it was kind of silly.

Katie slumped deeper into the mound of pillows on her bed. She sniffed and wrinkled up her nose, before unleashing a rough set of harsh coughs. "Aren't you smarter than most of the teachers at the high school anyway?" she added after catching her breath. "You and Dad are always going on about how I deserve the best education possible. The curriculum I'm working with is _levels_ below my aptitude." She crossed her arms and sniffled again. Then she sneezed. It came out like a mousy squeak and it made Matt chuckle.

Matt handed her the tissue box from her bedside table and she thanked him with a nod. Then she blew her nose. And he handed her a small cereal spoon. She took it with a faint groan, veraciously tired of the taste of brewed chamomile and hot spring water at this point, but desperate for the feeling of relief in her aching throat.

Matt shook his head a little, settling down on the edge of her bed. He glance briefly at his wristwatch. "Oh, come on.  _You're_ smarter than most of the teachers at Olkarian High, Pidge," he said, opening up his cellphone and scrolling through his notifications. He was currently partaking in a debate over Star Wars meta on Twitter, and had to stay invested. "You say so yourself almost every day."

He'd given Katie the nickname 'Pidge' when he was only in elementary school and she'd been born. And even now his baby sister's sandy brown hair seemed to fluff up around her face like pigeon feathers as she sunk miserably into her bed. "I mean, don't get a big head. But, you're even smarter than I was at your age." He pocketed his cellphone again, then handed her the cup of tea. She took it only somewhat gratefully. "You're just gonna have to go through the misery that is high school like all the rest of us. Sorry sis."

Katie groaned again, now stirring the innards of R2-D2 with her spoon. "I don't see the point," she mumbled. "I'm already ahead in literally all of my AP classes. And I skipped a grade. Why can't I just turn in everything I've completed from the syllabus, get my diploma, and leave? Wouldn't that be more practical? It's like I'm there to be tortured. It feels like my brain is being melted."

"Hm," Matt said, nodding twice as he considered this. Then he adjusted his glasses again. "Well ... maybe ... instead of looking at your senior year as something holding you back ... you can consider it ... your Garrison initiation course." He lifted his chin, pointed a finger upwards. "I mean, hey. If you can survive high school? You can survive anything."

Katie sighed. For a moment there was only the sound of her spoon clinking faintly against ceramic. "If I can survive it, is right," she muttered under her breath, after a pause.

Sometimes, she didn't think she would.

Her tone betrayed a sadness Matt hadn't picked up earlier in their conversation. He looked his little sister with concern riddled across his brow. She avoided his eyes. "This ... this isn't about you being ahead of your classes. Is it, Pidge." When Katie didn't reply, Matt asked, more gently, "Is this is about you being bored with your studies? Or ... something else?"

Katie didn't say anything for a while. Then she sighed again. Exasperated. "I don't know?" She shrugged and coughed into her elbow.

"Pidge. Are ... the other students still giving you a hard time?"

Katie groaned a bit at that. Then she balled a hand into a fist and rested her chin on top of it. Stirred her tea a little harder. "Ugh. Don't call me that." She sniffed. "I hate it when you call me that." She furrowed her brows and stared at R2-D2 intently.

"Sorry, Katie," Matt apologized after a pause.

Katie only took silent, grumpy sips of her tea and said nothing. She let the hot liquid sit at the back of her throat and sooth the ache. It didn't taste very good. But it felt good. And she sighed again, contentedly, as the brewed chamomile calmed her nerves.

Matt opened his mouth and closed it again. Decided he better not pry. He knew his little sister. And when Katie wanted to talk about what was bothering her, she would.

Katie was tougher than most sixteen year olds. She took much less shit than he ever put up with at that age, at least.

She had to be that way. The world was even crueler to girls like her than it was to guys like him.

Katie was the smartest person he knew. He told her so all the time. And he meant it. He had no doubts she could take care of herself. The only thing concerning Matt these days was that his sister had such a big heart — and such a hard time being lonely.

It made her such a target, despite it all. And he couldn't help but worry about her sometimes.

He knew exactly what it felt like to be persecuted at school for being 'too smart' 'too out of the loop' and 'too confident' ... and he was a dude. The thought of anyone making Pidge feel that pain he knew all too well, with brutal sexism added on to it, was enough to make his blood boil and his fists clench.

But he only sighed. And stood up again. "Katie." She looked up at him. The serious shift in his tone of voice grabbing her attention. "It'll get better. I promise."

Katie considered his words, then shrugged. Offered him a halfhearted smile. "Thanks," she told him. "For the tea."

Matt offered her a halfhearted smile right back. "No problem." He leaned over a bit and ruffled up her already messy bed hair. It fluffed up even more, in gravity defying directions. "You need anything else? Mom is kinda forcing me to be at your beck and call today. So I'd suggest you milk it as long as you can." His sister hummed a laugh.

Katie thought for a second, which made Matt roll his eyes. He'd been at her service for the last three days straight. And while he loved Pidge more than anything, catering to her every need like this wasn't exactly how he wanted to spend his college break. (He'd much rather spend it arguing with strangers over Star Wars.) Katie could really take advantage of her 'younger sibling entitlement' when she wanted to. But he still genuinely wanted to help cheer her up.

"Mm, no," Katie replied after a pause. And her reply took Matt by surprise. "Just some peace and quiet."

Katie handed Matt back R2-D2 and he blinked before taking the mug from her hands.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm good." Katie coughed a bit into her sleeve. "Oh. And also, my phone." She pointed to it on her desk across the room. And Matt retrieved it for her. "And can you turn on the consul over there? And pass me my favorite controller, please." 

Matt did as she asked.

Seemingly content once more, Katie snuggled deeper into her blankets. "Thank you." She flipped the controller a few times in her hand as her favorite gaming consul booted up. 

"Anything else?" Matt dared ask, his tone betraying his slight impatience. He just wanted to go back down stairs and finish his Star Wars: The Clone Wars marathon so he could tweet that sucker who dared test him in his area of expertise.

Katie smiled. "Nope nope." She sighed happily. "Thanks, Matt."

He smiled too. Relieved. "Any time, Pidge. I mean, Katie." He walked over to her door. "Just holler if you need me. I'm right in the living room."

"Okay." Pidge nodded, coughing into her elbow some more. "And ... Matt."

He paused and glanced back at her.

"I hope that you're right." She smiled. But her eyes looked a little sad. "About ... about it getting better. At school."

Matt smirked. "Well, I'm virtually always right. So don't worry too much. It'll happen."

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Statistically it's impossible to always be right ... something of which you would know if you were. But okay."

Matt scoffed. "Statistics can only be used to predict theoreticals, dear Katie. I'm the prime example of an exception to the mean here. A total outlier. Data doesn't lie, and I've been correct nearly one hundred percent of the time if you consider—"

"Yeah yeah yeah. Go watch your cartoon." Pidge sniffed. Her game booted up now, she fell deep in concentration.

Matt laughed a bit. "Alright. Later," he said, dropping his playful act of pretension.

And then he closed her door on his way out.

 

✶

 

It was day four of being in bed with a cold.

And while Katie was merely getting sick of being sick, Colleen Holt was starting to get worried.

"Is it high?" Katie mumbled, sniffling. She rubbed at her reddened nose and winced in pain. Her nasal passages were so irritated.

"No... It's not that..." Her mother said putting down the thermometer and shaking up a bottle of medicine. She handed Katie a spoon. "Your temperature is back to normal. My concern is why you still look so _miserable_ sweetie. Are you feeling any relief at all?" She dipped her chin, and her voice grew softer. "Is everything okay?"

Katie blinked at her mother. Then she slowly nodded her head. "Yeah," she said. She shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine."

Colleen waited for Katie to pour herself two spoonfuls of the symptom relief medication. Then she took back the bottle and the spoon.

"You know. When I was a senior," she began out of nowhere, seizing Katie's interest. "I actually happened to drop out of high school."

Katie only blinked again at her. Then her eyebrows sky rocketed. "What? For real?"

Her mother nodded. "Yep. It's not exactly something I discuss ... But it's the truth. Your mother was _that girl_ in high school."

"You got held back?" Katie gasped. "Did ... did you ever graduate?"

Colleen laughed. "Yes. I did. But it was a year after all my friends had graduated. And it was difficult to stay motivated. I almost settled for just getting my GED and saying 'to heck' with the rest... In retrospect, that would have been just as wise of a choice."

Katie considered this. "But, you're so smart Mom ... Dad is always talking about how you were the top of your class."

Colleen nodded again. "I am smart! There's no denying that you and your brother inherited your wit from me." She winked. Booped Katie's nose. "Being held back a year hadn't been because of my academic prowess, no matter what it may look like paper. I was an all A+ student until senior year. Things just started falling apart. My grades started to reflect my mental state. And I was failing in everything."

"Everything?"

" _Everything_. Even biology."

"Your favorite branch of science..." Katie's eyes widened. "That's serious."

"No kidding. I was miserable. But, no one had ever told me there was such a thing as simply take a break. I thought I had no other option but to pull through, and suffer. So I tried, but it only burned me out." Her smile turned into something a little sad as she reflected on that some more. "Your peers can be so cruel," she added after a moment.

"Yeah," Katie agreed. She sighed.

"It's not always about being a good student, or a good person, or a bad student, or a lazy person." Colleen looked at her daughter, and her eyes glowed in the warm afternoon sunlight streaming from the attic windows. "Some of us have hearts a little too big for our own good. And sometimes, those of us with big hearts need to take a break. Or else our fire will start to fizzle out. So our hearts don't die."

Katie held her mother's eye contact, not daring to assume she knew where this conversation was going. Could this mean ... she knew about her wanting to be home-schooled?

Colleen reached out a hand to Katie. Her palm was warm and soft, and covered Katie's smaller hand entirely. "We can talk more about school when you're ready," she assured her softly. "And if homeschooling is what you need, your father and I will make it happen. Do what ever it takes. We just want you to be happy, sweetheart. We just want to see you succeed."

Katie stared at her. Tears pooling in the rims of her light sun-colored eyes as her mother's words began sinking in.

Matt. He must have told her. He almost never told their parents the things Katie confided in him.

But maybe Matt had made a good call this time. Katie could have burst into a fit of sobs. Right there and then.

But her face already felt like it was on the verge of exploding, and her temples were throbbing from being sick. And the relief from her mother's words only made Katie feel suddenly, extremely, and overwhelmingly ... _exhausted_.

So she simply nodded. Blinked a few tears from her eyes. And then wiped those tears from her cheeks with her pajama sleeves.

"Thank you."

Colleen smiled at her. "Anything for you, Starlight. Absolutely anything. We're a team in this family. And we'll help you get through this." She leaned forward and kissed Katie's forehead before she got up. "I love you. To the MACS0647-JD Galaxy and back."

"I love you too, Mom." Katie smiled, huffing a small laugh and then coughing again into her elbow.

Her mother gave her one last smile before leaving Katie to read her comic books in peace. The dipping sun lit up every corner of Katie's bedroom for a while. But then the sun began to set. And its dimming light essentially began to rock Katie to sleep.

She yawned. And put down her favorite issue of DC's Bombshells series. 

She blinked at the stars on her ceiling.

And in just a few minutes.

She was out.

 

✶

 

And that's when she heard a strange noise.

It was faint at first. Then it grew louder. And louder.

It sounded like someone knocking on her door, or lightly tapping against her walls.

Katie groaned and put a pillow over her head.

"Come in," she muttered. But her door didn't open. "Come in!" she repeated more loudly.

Still no reply.

So Katie woke up slowly, reluctantly.

At first she believed the sound was coming from Sally Ride. The famous astronaut had been dancing elegantly in her dreams, and her gentle waltz across the stars suddenly morphed into some sort of a tap dance. But soon reality washed over Katie again. And while Sally Ride began to vanish into a haze between the realm of her dream world and the real world, the tapping sound only seemed to grow louder and louder.

Katie blinked at the far wall of her room.

The sun had almost set completely and Katie's collection of glow-in-the-dark stars shimmered back down at her, sorted neatly into their relative constellations on her walls. Leo the Lion constellation glimmered in the sliver of sunlight that crept in through the skylight. And the tapping noise continued steadily, until finally erupting into an almost desperate banging that pounded gently through her walls.

Katie sat up. Looked around her room in the dark. Even with her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she couldn't see anything shift or move in place.

Then, her mind waking up some more, she finally gathered that the noise had to be coming from her window. Not the window that opened up to the roof, but the small one by the trees behind her house.

"What the..." Katie scooted to the edge of her bed. Slowly furrowing her eyebrows and observing the window curtains across the room. She slipped her socked feet into her fluffy pea-green bedroom slippers. "What the hell is going on..."

Katie didn't know what to expect as she crossed her bedroom and pushed the curtains aside.

A broken tree branch swinging against the glass in the wind, maybe. Or some careless construction workers doing maintenance next door. A lost rabid woodpecker. A ghost.

Even Sally Ride.

She had a few hypotheses.

But the one thing she did not expect to see outside of her window was a lanky teenage boy looking more than relieved to see her face.

Katie blinked.

It was of her classmates from school. Lance. And he was perched on the branch of a nearby tree, rapping his knuckles against the glass.

"Open up!" he mouthed at her. 

It shouldn't have been so shocking to see him there like this. (He'd pulled shenanigans worse than this before.)

But Katie didn't think he had climbed up to her window in almost two years now.

They hadn't even hung out really in months.

Her mind blanked out for a moment, looking at him now.

Katie wasn't sure she could consider Lance a friend anymore. He was more of just, some really tall guy who sat behind Katie nearly all of her classes. He had radiant brown skin, and short dark hair. And he joked around a lot in class for someone she knew was actually one of the smartest guys in their grade.

Katie still liked him, of course. As a friend. (Of course.) But it'd been so long.

And this was ... weird.

Seeing him now, like this, almost made her zone out. Katie blinked at Lance in silence half questioning if she were still dreaming.

What in the world would Lance even be doing here? And at this hour? 

Sure they had been friends freshman year to junior year... but things changed.

Back then, Lance was still the new guy whose parents immigrated from the Caribbean. And Tsuyoshi, their other friend, was also new to the private school. Katie was the freaky thirteen year old math prodigy from New York. They used to all be outsiders. And so, of course, they got along pretty great once they identified some commonalities. But then Tsuyoshi got a boyfriend. And Lance migrated to a more reckless and well-liked group of kids in their grade. And Katie lost interest in the social hierarchies of high school all together.

Lance was a nice guy so Katie didn't judge him merely for being able to fit in.

He was just. A little bit too showy for her taste sometimes. And loud. And he spoke faster than he thought things through.

Or at least that's what she told her mom, whenever Colleen unabashedly asked how 'that nice boy she used to hang out with' was doing. ("Tsuyoshi?" Katie would always ask. "Him too! But I was referring to ... Lance," her mother would always answer. A smile on her lips.)

Katie only stared at Lance now. Mouth agape. She really couldn't believe it. But. There he was.

"Lance?" she whispered.

"Open the window, Katie!" he shouted again. 

His muffled voice sounded so much deeper than she remembered it, even through the glass.

She barely heard Lance speak in class anymore. And his voice sounded far more obnoxious whenever he goofed off with his friends in school. It was different up close. And it was enough to wake Katie out of her stupor.

After quickly adjusting her messy bed-hair (and checking to see if her pajama top was buttoned all the way up) Katie leaned forward and opened the window.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ah! Finally!" Lance exclaimed, teetering. "Let me in! Please, Katie. I'm falling."

Katie blinked wildly at him. "Wh-What?" She reached out instinctively, before seeing he wasn't losing his balance at all. Then she shook her head. "No, wait. Why are you here, Lance?"

Lance blinked wildly right back. "I-I'm visiting you. You always said I should drop by?" He shrugged vaguely. "Well. Here I am."

She hadn't asked him to stop by her house in months.

But if she said that aloud he might get the wrong idea. And leave.

Despite the strangeness of this visit, Katie couldn't get herself to tell him to go.

"Why didn't you just ... come in, like ... through the front door?" she asked.

Lance considered this. "I dunno I thought ... you'd kinda dig my arriving like this to be honest. For old time's sake?" The smile on his face was playful, with a glimmer of teasing. Katie squinted at him.

Then she crossed her arms. And huffed. Then she rested her hands on her hips instead. And shook her head. She sniffled her nose a bit. Trying her best to display downright disapproval and not actually smile at this knucklehead almost twenty-feet above potential death.

Lance was a goddamn mess.

"I don't 'dig it' when guys plummet to their death," Katie muttered softly, still greatly confused and half certain she was still asleep.

"And I won't ever be one of those guys... if you'd just let me in!" Lance requested again, raising his voice dramatically.

Katie crossed her arms again. Not buying it. "Lance. I'm sick. And contagious." Her next words ached as they escaped her throat. But this was so messy, and ridiculous, she had to say them. "What you need, is to climb back down this tree and just ... go back home."

"But I brought you your homework." Lance pouted.

"No you didn't."

"How do you know?"

"I get my homework online? Besides ... I did this week's assignments already. Months ago. And we don't share all the same classes."

Lance groaned. "Just let me in, Katie."

"Why do you want to come in?"

Lance frowned. " _Pwease let me in_."

Katie grimaced. Oh god. "No," she exasperated. "Maybe I would have, exactly two seconds ago, but not anymore. Absolutely not."

" _Pwease Mr. Obama ... pwease ... I'd do anything if you let me in._ "

"Lance ... I hate that meme so much."

" _Anything!_   _Awe you just gonna weave me hewe_? _Up in this twee_?"

Katie rolled her eyes. If Lance made her laugh she'd get into another coughing fit. And her throat hurt already like hell.

He was so damn weird.

"Lance."

"Pwetty pwease?"

Katie sighed. And despite herself, she gave in a bit anyway. "Anything...?" she muttered out the side of her mouth. 

Lance smiled fondly, catching the playful glint to her eye. " _Anything Mr. Obama_." 

Katie couldn't fight the smile spreading across her face. Lance didn't look at all out of place with his leggy self balancing in position on the branch of her favorite climbing tree. She leaned out the window. Closer to him. And let her fluffy hair fall around her face.

Katie reached out and touched the fringes of Lance's hoodie with her fingers as if to grab him and pull him towards her. Lance leaned in as well. Still not losing his balance. And Katie tilted her chin.

" _Then perish_ ," she told him. 

And she let go.

But not before swiping what looked like a crinkly piece of plastic that had been sticking out of Lance's pocket. She turned it over in her fingers and inspected it. Lance feigned utter betrayal as Katie's focus shifted again.

"Ah, what?" Lance said, as if shot through the heart by her display of disinterest. "Betrayed... by my own President..." he mourned.

"Are these Gushers?" Katie asked him. Her smile suddenly bright and sincere as she looked back up.

Lance nodded. "Hell yeah," he affirmed, finally falling out of character. "The best of the best too. Blue raspberry and sour apple."

"Dude, these are my favorite."

Lance smiled. "I know."

Katie tucked a hair behind her ear and laughed faintly. "I mean they won't taste like much while my taste perception is hindered. But that's not gonna stop me from stuffing my face with these," she reasoned, mostly to herself.

Lance nodded again. "Cool. So, like. Can I come in now?"

Katie looked up at him again. "Huh, oh! Oh, oh yeah." She reached out of the window again, with both arms this time. And Lance grabbed hold of her by her elbows. His hands wrapped all the way around her thin arms gently, but firmly. And Katie planted her slippered feet against the floor and pulled back. Lance pushed off his feet, and with her help, toppled in through her window.

Katie fell over, and Lance landed on the floor beside her, making a soft thudded noise as he hit the ground. Katie let out the smallest grunt and Lance a brief yelp. Then he shook his head, propped himself up on his elbows, and gathered his bearings. Looked around.

"Hey. New decor. Very pretty," he observed admiring the stars and maps on her wall. He didn't remember those being there before. Then he looked over at Katie again, laying opposite of him on the floor, rubbing at the side of her head.

She wrinkled up her nose at him.

"To match the pretty girl," he greeted her softly. When she frowned in surprise, he looked away. "And uh. The pretty ... floor."

Katie shifted her eyes as well. Then she shoved Lance's shoulder with one hand as she sat back up. "You goofball. You could have legit died... Next time just ring our doorbell like a normal person."

"But I didn't die."

"Yeah, because I saved you."

"Right. It's a good thing you saved me."

Katie stared at him a moment, then she sighed. She looked to where a bunch more fruit snack packets had tumbled out from Lance's pockets, along with an unopened deck of Yugioh cards, and a miniature retro GameBoy game case.

"What ... is all this stuff?" She picked up another Gushers packet. "Why did you bring all this with you?"

"Oh." Lance adjusted his position until he was sitting across from her, one leg out in front of him and the other bent below his elbow. He picked up the deck of cards. "Got myself a new deck, and I wanted to open it in your presence like I used to always," he explained. "The games are just some of my faves. I bought Sonic Mania last week, and I know you have a consul that can hook it up to the big screen. And I wanted to try it." He nodded at Katie's tricked out tv. He remembered it from when he and Tsuyoshi would come over years back.

He looked at all the fruit snacks and pushed a pile of them in Katie's direction. "And these," he said. "Are for you. Just to, you know. Make you feel better. Boost your morale a bit." He smiled down at her again.

Katie blinked at the fruitsnack packets. And then she picked one up and opened it. "Thanks."

"No problem." Lance shuffled the small game case and card deck in one hand with deft fingers. "So which do you wanna do first? Card unwrapping, or los videojuegos? I don't gotta be home 'til ten." 

Katie popped one blue raspberry gusher in her mouth. And just as she'd hypothesized, she could barely taste it. She could only sense the faint tingle of sour candy at the edges of her tongue. But she chewed for a while. And then gave Lance a puzzled look.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked softly. Suddenly skeptical. 

She only realized his presence had brought a warm and calming feeling over her when it disappeared suddenly — and was replaced with a sharp and familiar pain in her chest. There was always the chance, always the probability, that interactions like this with her peers could all be some sort of set up.

Of course. Lance wasn't like that.

And maybe it was unfair of Katie to assume he'd just risked his life with the intention of only sabotaging her somehow.

But a few past experiences had her scarred. She liked Lance. A lot. But Lance craved the approval of some of her worst enemies at school. Girls who flicked water at her in the bathroom. And guys who called her flat chested in gym.

Katie wanted to be one hundred percent certain this surprise visit of Lance's had nothing to do with the questionable friends he'd chosen to surround himself with senior year. But she couldn't shake the thought once it hit her.

"You mean visiting you?" Lance asked. "Uh, well. I dunno. You'd been like ... missing in action for a while." He looked down at his hands. "Just wanted to see if you were okay."

Katie chewed in silence. "I'm fine," she told him after a minute.

"And," Lance went on. "You wouldn't answer my texts with more than a one word response really ... I guess I just thought ... you were mad at me? Or something?" He gave her a look she hadn't seen in a while.

Katie nearly scoffed. "What?" She shook her head. Her texting habits had nothing to do with him. "Why would I be mad at you?"

Lance shrugged. "I ... I dunno." He laughed in relief. "God, sometimes I just feel like everyone lowkey finds me annoying or something like that. It's dumb, but." He fiddled with his sleeves.

Katie ate more gushers in silence. The faint taste of blue-raspberry admittedly filled her with bliss. "Hm. A fair hypotheses, but not when you consider the data." She quirked a brow. "You're pretty loud sometimes, but you have a nice voice. And you're kind of over-the-top when expressing yourself ... but you're fun to be around. I don't think anyone finds you annoying, Lance. Not sincerely, anyway."

Somehow the look on his face made Katie feel the need to duck her eyes again. "Anyway, that isn't what I meant. I meant why are you doing this?" She gestured towards his strange peace offerings. "Why did you bring this stuff? And bust through my goddamn window?"

"I told you, I thought you'd be into it." Lance defended his choice again. "And ... I dunno. I thought you'd wanna hang out?"

"Hang out. While I'm sick." She looked at him with eyes both skeptical and... endeared. Despite her ambivalance.

"Yeah ... Look, whatever. Okay. I didn't think it all the way through? It just felt like I've barely seen you. We used to hang out a lot and I dunno. I... miss it. Kinda. We had so much fun ... you me and Hunk. We were like ... the Klunk Trio."

Katie almost smiled. Hunk was the nickname Lance liked to call their friend Tsuyoshi. Katie preferred 'Tsuyosh' but Lance said he was too attractive not to be called a 'Hunk' and ... she couldn't argue with that. "That used to be a lot of fun," she admitted.

Lance smirked. "Yeah," he agreed softly. "So I was like, hey. Maybe Katie Kat is just as miserable as I am? All locked up in her princess tower ... alone ... waiting for a friend. And maybe she could use a visit from her handsome Knight? And some fruit snacks." He went on, a dreamy look in his eyes that often came over him when he went into some other mental realm Katie wish she could see for herself. 

She giggled the tiniest bit. Her handsome Knight? Please, Lance.

But then, a faint sickness washed over Katie again. Unrelated to the nausea she'd been feeling already from being sick.

This feeling was older. And more familiar than that.

She frowned. Looked down at her hands which were being enveloped by her pajama sleeves. "Last year we had a lot of fun. Still can't believe you passed with nothing lower than a C plus on your report cards," she stated, haphazardly.

Lance came back down to earth at the sound of her voice. "I know?" He grinned. "Thank god I had such an amaze tutor." He nudged her knee with his own and stole a single gusher from her pouch. He threw it in the air and tried to catch it in his mouth.

Katie hunched her shoulders a bit. Her brows furrowed. "Do you want me to tutor you now?"

Lance's brows flew up, like that'd been the last thing he'd expected her to say. "What?"

"Do you want me to tutor you?" Katie asked again. More loudly this time. Her voice rasped a bit due to her sore throat.

Lance considered this. "Well I mean? I'd rather play Sonic Mania but ... if that's your idea of fun ... then, hey man. I'm not saying no to raising my GPA."

He laughed.

But Katie didn't.

In fact, she almost flipped.

She threw the stupid packet of gushers back in Lance's face and stood up.

"You know what. I should have known." Her voice was small.

Lance looked absolutely stunned as the packet ricocheted off the point of his nose. "Uh?" He blinked. "Should have known? What?"

"If you need a tutor, Lance, just go ask for one in the guidance office like everyone else! I honestly don't see why you felt the need to come all the over here, while I was sick, just so you could—!"'

"Wait, what?" Lance's brow knitted in puzzlement. Then rose with realization. "No! No no no, Katie, that's not—"

"—get me to help you with your studies? Is that all I am to you now? A resource of insight for your stupid college—?"

"Katie I just wanted to spend time with you!"

"—transcripts!" Katie took in a sharp breath. She slowed down.

She sniffled a little bit.

"What?"

His confession nearly knocked the wind out of her.

"I-I didn't mean the tutoring thing. We don't have to do homework. Ever. It's fine. I just." Lance ran a hand through his soft brown hair a few times. "I just wanted to spend some time with you." The fainter his voice grew, the more Katie felt sorry she had raised her own.

The fear in her gut dissipated completely.

"Really?" she asked. The relief in her voice almost shattered the question.

She believed him.

"Of course, really." He huffed a laughing sound. "I'd rather not touch the topic of school work at all to be honest. Everything ... has been so hectic lately. My Mom and siblings are being so weird now that I have to worry about college, I don't wanna think about it sometimes. I'd so much rather just ... chill and wind down when I'm ... I'm with you." He looked at her with faint concern all of a sudden. "And I haven't gotten to see very much of you lately. It's like you've been locked away from everyone since last summer. I was worried."

Katie couldn't look away. Lance's eyes were a piercing ocean blue, and seemed to carve into her like a river into a mountainside. His eyes always seemed to captivate her like that. She guessed even with his new height and voice... somethings never changed.

Lance always seemed to see everything inside of her she hadn't been able to talk about yet. Not to her mother or even to Matt.

She had thought no one noticed how miserable she felt in school. But, maybe someone had seen her after all.

"Yeah." She sat back down again. "I keep getting sick." She shrugged. "Must be something in the air this year. I have a few conspiracies actually. Since that new factory went up a few blocks near here..."

Lance nodded. Though it was clear to him that much more was going on here, he didn't pry.

And Katie appreciated it.

"Well..." Lance tilted his chin, and Katie thought to herself that she still rather liked his face.

It was slimmer than she remembered. But it was kind. And his nose was still as cute as it'd always been. All his softer features came to a handsome point with age. Everything about him looked rougher, but softer, at the same time.

"There's nothing in the air... in here..." Lance reminded her, waving his cards and game case again.

Katie smiled after a moment. Then she swiped the deck of cards from his fingers.

Nothing but parasitic germs floating in the air — she thought, and almost said. But she didn't exactly want Lance to get grossed out.

"You'll get sick you know," she warned him instead.

"Great." Lance grinned. "That means less school, and more Katie. A win win."

Katie hid her smile behind the cards as she inspected the plastic around them. "Yeah well. How's your starter deck looking so far?"

Lance snatched the card packet right back. And began trying to open it. "Shut up," he said. "I'm far beyond starter and you know it. I didn't bring my tin of cards, but you should come over and see my collection some time. It's pretty choice."

Katie leaned back on the palm of her hands. "Oh, I'm sure." She watched Lance struggle to open the packet. He tried first with his fingers and then with his teeth. "Here, let me." She gestured for him to pass her back the cards and he tossed it at her. Then she bit into the plastic, right where he had, and tore it open with ease.

"I helped," Lance said, gesturing for her to give them back.

Katie shuffled through the cards first. Half impressed with his find. He had bought himself a pretty good collection. "And after this, we can play Sonic Mania." Her fingers brushed his slightly as she returned the cards. "Dibs on Sonic. And player one."

Lance grumbled. "HHHHH. Fine. Only because you're sick."

Katie laughed. "You really are gonna get sick, you know," she warned him again. She didn't know why she kept saying it. She really really didn't want Lance to leave. The warm feeling he gave her washed over her again.

It was more soothing than chamomile tea.

It was like she still felt the need to test her waters. 

Letting Lance in was like drowning into something wonderful sometimes.

Lance only shrugged at her reminder. "Oh! Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon baby!" He flashed the card at Katie and grinned wholeheartedly.

Katie only returned his smile with a smug look of her own. "Yeah yeah," she shrugged. "Call me when you have four Raigeki's, man."

Lance stared at her. "You do not have four frickin' first edition spell cards, Katie. Don't mess with me."

"Oh. Don't I?" Katie scoffed. And she got up again with a short sniffle of her nose. And on her way to her bookshelf where she stored her card collection, she double checked to make sure her door was still locked. 

Something told her her mother wouldn't be all that unhappy to find a boy in her room, if that boy was Lance. 

(Colleen seemed to approve of Lance a lot in fact. Though Katie couldn't figure out particularly why, nor did she want to think about it.)

But Katie would rather not have Matt barge in on them.

Her brother was a bit of a different story.

 

✶

 

Day five, and Katie was finally able to breathe in and out through both nostrils.

And god, she felt so much better. Especially with the weekend coming up and extending her break from school.

Her symptoms had disappeared almost entirely in fact, leaving her with only a dying cough and some sniffles.

And she still didn't know whether or not she planned on finishing high school at home or on campus. But the fact that the choice was hers made her feel calm and collected.

Either way, she wouldn't have to worry about feeling alone.

She was sure of it now.

Katie downed a few large spoonfuls of her mother's homemade vegetable soup. And then she wiped her mouth on her sleeve and settled back down into the living room couch, wrapped up in her favorite fleece blanket with tiny chibi Hatsune Miku's printed all over it.

"You really wanna do Rainbow Road?" she asked aloud, quirking an eyebrow doubtfully.

"Yes!" Lance assured her. Sniffling loudly. "What, you think I'm afraid of a little rimless track, Katie?" He coughed a few times. Groaned a bit. And grasped his stomach as if overcome with another ache.

He looked as sick as she had felt five days ago. And Katie watched him with concern, but Lance waved a hand to signal he was fine and settled back against the cushions again after a moment.

So Katie laughed as Lance dialed up the difficulty on their screen to expert level. "Dude. You suck at this map," she reminded him.

Lance huffed. He coughed a few times into his elbow, raising one finger at her to signal that he wasn't done. Once he got back his breath he frowned at her. "Yeah, well. Not anymore, girlfriend. I'll have you know that I've been secretly training online with some pro Mario Karters from Japan. I met them on discord and have been getting their insight all month. I know all the tricks of the course. So. You can just prepare to eat my virtual dust." He slammed the 'A' button on his controller with his thumb and started the race.

Katie shook her head and focused her attention on the screen.

Well. Most of her attention.

A fraction of it was still on Lance. He was sitting so closely beside her buried in another one of her fleece blankets, the pink one with Sailor Jupiter printed on it. His nose was reddened. And his eyes were vaguely bloodshot. But the goofball looked kinda cute, Katie had to admit (at least to herself) with his hair all tousled and his limbs slumped over.

Cute in a 'he looked positively awful' sort of way. His countenance all bothered as he tried to maneuver Mario's wheels away from the edges of Rainbow Road's slim tracks.

Katie's mother had thankfully let him hang out with Katie all day while she went out to do some shopping.

Colleen had been a little too glad Lance had offered to keep Katie company for Katie's liking. But, sitting here with Lance's knee bumping against hers steadily as they both sat crisscrossed playing video games ... was nice. 

It was nice having Lance all to herself.

She was grateful for it. So grateful in fact, that Katie had to remind herself to focus on whooping Lance's ass right now, and not to the scent of mint gum, cologne, and fresh laundry soap he always seemed to carry even when he was sick.

"Told you you would catch my cold," Katie reminded him for the third time. Knocking him with an ink blast in the game.

Lance yelped as Mario fell off the track and into the empty void of space. Then he growled. "Yeah yeah yeah. This is all your fault."

Katie scoffed as she sped Yoshi across the lap line. "What!" she exclaimed. "How in the world is it my fault?"

"Um, isn't it obvious?"

"Lance, no one told you to visit me yesterday."

"No, but!" Lance protested. "It's all your fault for getting sick in the first place! You know good and well I couldn't stay away from you for very long, Katie." He muttered the last part almost like an after thought. And when she looked over at him he refused to glance her way. So Katie refocused on the game. And tried to settle the smile that spread across her face.

"Fair enough," she softly replied eventually.

And then she made a sharp turn with Yoshi's cart and bumped Mario once again into the endless virtual abyss — just before sliding to a halt across the finish line. Making first place.

Lance growled again. And paused the game to cough for a while into his arm.

"Pro Karters from Japan huh? What about this pro, right here in Arizona?" Katie boasted, leaning close to him. Lance only rolled his eyes. He didn't move away. And Katie thought she caught the hint of a smile on his face as her side bumped against his.

She only laughed. And she waited for him to catch his breath.

And truthfully, she could have waited for him forever.

Things had been tough this year, but.

Katie couldn't stay away from Lance very long herself.

**Author's Note:**

> a lot of this is based on convos i had with ohsweetmilky lol, definitely check her out [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohsweetmilky/pseuds/Ohsweetmilky) and on [tumblr](https://ohsweetmilkyway.tumblr.com/) !!


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